Some Things The House Appropriations Committee Is Concerned About

     Some excerpts from the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee report on the Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations bill (starts at page 298) that includes the Social Security Administration:

• The Committee considers the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) ‘‘Hearings Held by Administrative Appeals Judges of the Appeals Council’’ (84 Fed. Reg. 70080, December 20, 2019) to be an unjustified erosion of due process for individuals who are appealing a denial of Social Security or SSI benefits. As part of a beneficiary’s right to an impartial appeal process, an on-the-record hearing, conducted by an impartial judge with decisional independence, must be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act to ensure due process, with-out agency interference, or political bias. Replacing this appeals step and the role of independent administrative law judges (ALJ)s with SSA employees, jeopardizes the independence of the process. In light of the harm that would be caused by this policy change, the Committee strongly urges SSA to immediately withdraw this proposed rule. 
• The Committee is deeply concerned about the impact of Presidential Executive Order 13843 on the judicial independence of administrative law judges (ALJs). The Order eliminates the competitive hiring process for ALJs and has the potential impact of converting independent adjudicators to political appointees, undermining longstanding principles of fair and unbiased consideration of matters of vital importance to the American people. ALJs must be independent decision-makers and it is the Committee’s expectation that SSA maintain the highest standards for appointment of ALJs. The Committee directs the Ad-ministration to develop and submit to the Committees on Appro-priations, Ways and Means,and Oversight and Reform, a report on hiring processes, to include an explanation of the process, qualification standards, and criteria used to recruit, evaluate and hire ALJs.
  
• The Committee is concerned that persistent labor-management relations problems are undermining the vital work of the SSA. Within 180 days of enactment of this Act, SSA is directed to submit to the Committee a plan, developed in consultation with labor organizations representing its workforce, to improve workplace morale and to strengthen employee recruitment and retention, to better serve the American people.
• The Committee stresses its long-standing support for well-managed telework programs in the Federal workplace and is concerned about recent reductions in telework at SSA. Within 60 days of enactment of this Act, SSA is directed to submit a report to the Committee to explain each decision by SSA to reduce telework availability on or after October 1, 2019, which shall include any metrics used by SSA to reach these determinations, and an impact assessment on human capital in hiring and retention, in-creases to transit and parking subsidies, office space and utility needs changes, lost productivity and morale decline due to lost telework.
• The Committee expects that once the COVID–19 pandemic ends SSA will resume in-person hearings on the same basis as prior to the pandemic.

      Some caveats: This is just the House version. The Senate gets a say as well. These are just recommendations. Even if finally passed they're not legally binding. This bill probably won't be finalized until early next year. There may be some new actors on the stage by then.